Daredevil Message Board

[Gloria]

Within the last week, I've come across annoyed, or irate comments (one person actually stating to be "pissed off") about "Daredevil: Yellow". The reason: "It changes Daredevi's origins! It presents Matt as being in college when his father is murdered" and then comments about how they hate retcons or origins of characters being changed.

My jaw drops.

Because, wether you like or not "Daredevil: Yellow", you can't certainy accuse Jeph Loeb of changing DDs origins: Matt lost his father while at college. It was Frank Miller, in his miniseries "Man without Fear" that opted to change Matt's past (he had already introduced Stick and Elektra, but this didn't alter Matt's past too much, as it "filled blanks" in it, rather than altering what had already been written)

I'm not about criticising MWF, which I consider an excellent series, but the bad thing is that the DD film, and some DD writers, have chosen to follow that story to retell Dds origins, and present Matt as a child orphan, so for some people this is "the original origin", and these people gets angry when Matt's early days are presented as they have -actually-always been prior to Miller's retcon.

Examples: J.M. De Matteis, or Joe Kelly, included the "Matt vandalizes a brothel" MWF scene in their stories. When Milla is looking for Matt and has a long talk with Ben Urich, Alex Maalev draws a flashback scene where Matt doesn't look older than nine when he mourns his dad... But then other writers stick to the classic origins: i.e. Loeb in Yellow, Brubaker in the regular series (we see Matt reminiscing about his father's death: he's a grown young man and Foggy is at his side in the morgue), and, well... Frank Miller himself in his writing of the regular series, where he writes DD's youth without straying away from the classic origins.

So now it seems to be a creative choice: the writer is the one who decides to stick to one or other continuity. Should it be so?

Someone who, like me, prefered the classic -canon- origins, stated this reason (which are pretty coincident with mine):
One: that re-imagining Matt loosing his father at an earlier age (nearly a child) makes him repeat/copy the classic Batman genesis... But DD ain't Batman, and Bruce the orphan has a fortune, a butler, and a minder. What does have Matt to allow a blind orphaned child from Hell's Kitchen to reach college? a bit from extra cash that Jack got in his last combats?

To which I add the following:

Two: Having Jack rearing Matt until he gets to college tells us a lot of positive things about the man. He fights hard so his boy can be someone better than him. He fights hard so his blind son can have an education which will help him get a good job -and have a future- in spite of his handicap. The canon origins portray a greater bond between father and son.

Three: The MWF retcon presents Matt as someone bitterer and more of a loner, than he was originally. Point in case: the classic origins present Foggy as a brotherly figure, as someone who is there to support Matt when Jack dies, as someone who offers his blind, orphaned pal to become his partner in law. MWF, while retaining Foggy's figure as a friend, somewhat estranges his role as a surrogate brother.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, let me know your views: do you prefer the classic origin or the retconned one?
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Gloria
Devuélveme el rosario de mi madre y quédate con todo lo demás

"Para la cuesta arriba quiero mi burro, que la cuesta abajo yo me la subo"

[Francesco]

I personally prefer the retconned one, the one with Jack killed before Matt went to college. Of course, with Matt depicted as a youngster in his late teens (him being a kiddie in Milla's flashback is too inconsistent).

Also, I don't really see the risk of his origin repeating Batman's. Let's face it, the killing of a father is all they have in common. Batman's is quite corny, compared to DD's "Haw I'll take those pearls - bang bang - I become a master scientist and an athlete - I must strike terror in the cowards and supertitious - look a bat it's an omen"

[jumonji]

First off, thanks Gloria for writing a long post so I don't have to feel bad when I write entire essays (it seems I can never have an opinion on anything, whether DD related or not that can be expressed in less than ten sentences).

[Francesco]

You forget to take into consideration Stick's training.
In this sense, Yellow is the weirdest of the two, with Matt becoming a fighter seemingly all of a sudden.

[jumonji]

[Gloria]

[Gloria]

[Dimetre]

[Solid Snake PAC]

I'd like to think that to an extent they are merged. MWF with gal out the window, fighting Kingpin's guys, etc. and Yellow with the late Teen MM in college with Dad still alive is a bit of a combination of sorts. I think MWF may try to skip out on the parts we already now of, or may not seem relevant to the core of that story. I dunno..in some scenes Matt seems to look older and in others seems to be older.

[blacktyphoid]

[Acerbus]

[jumonji]

[Blind Alley]

[jumonji]

[blacktyphoid]

For what it's worth, here's two interesting tidbits about DD's original origin:

DD was the very first silver age non-team Marvel superhero to premiere in his own book. (Spidey premiered in Amazing Fantasy; Thor premiered in Journey Into Mystery; Iron Man premiered in Tales to Astonish, and so forth...). In other words, DD didn't go through some sort of trial run as all the other burgeoning solo heroes in the Marvel line. That must have meant that Stan Lee right from the outset placed a lot of stock in ol' hornhead's ability to sell funny books.


Lee has often talked about the pride he felt in creating a superhero who was able to overcome a major disability (permanent blindness). Yet, DD's original artist, Bill Everett, reportedly had a daughter who was blind. Therefore, it's very possible that Everett may have had a more significant role in DD's creation than Lee provides. Could the foundation of DD's very being (ie. his blindness) come from Everett's personal and tragic experiences instead of Lee's imagination? If so, then despite the fact that Everett lasted only the one issue, his contribution to Daredevil's origins could be as huge as his role was in creating the Sub-Mariner.

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blacktyphoid